Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Some possible convention silliness: Politico's Maggie Haberman notes this morning that the Democratic National Convention host committee seems to be confused about the place where the Carolina Panthers play their football.

Haberman says:

A recent email from the host committee signed by former Al Gore campaign manager Donna Brazile urged people to win a trip to Charlotte for the event, which will wrap "Thursday night at Panthers Stadium with President Obama."

Another email in June made the same pitch about the stadium.

Haberman wonders if there's a political statement going on here. National Democrats, she says, have been touting their stand against taking political money for the convention. Could the snub of Bank of America stadium be intentional?

We hope not, and we doubt it. The boasting about corporate-free money has come mostly from the Democratic National Convention Committee, in part because the host committee has raised millions of dollars of corporate money to pay for an array of expenses. Plus, the host committee's executive director is a CEO - Dan Murrey, on leave from OrthoCarolina - and the co-chairs of the committee are Duke executive Jim Rogers and Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx. All three know better than to take a slap at a corporate neighbor. We'll write this one off as sloppiness.

Perhaps it is just their way of letting their national audience know this is the stadium where the NFL Panthers play. Many people nationally do not know that the Carolina Panthers play in Charlotte. "B of A" Stadium, although correct, doesn't describe the stadium's use. Referring to it as "Panthers' Stadium" helps connect the dots.

I don't think it's intentional. It's just ignorance. It's the same kind of ignorance that causes people to write nonsense like "its to hot outside" and "who has the best barbeque in the Carolina's" - you know, the kind of ignorance one can only acquire by sleeping all the way through elementary school as a result have no grasp of basic grammar. Or the ignorance that caused Larry Brown's wife to say that her husband was an NBA coach who coached the team in Charlotte, South Carolina while he was coach of the Bobcats.

@ 704Champ - don't forget that in addition to not standing up, they're not allowed to cheer loudly either.

If you are naive enough to think its an accident, count how many more times it will happen and from all the different sources. No accident.

Obama dogged BofA at every opportunity when he took office. Not Wells Fargo. Not JP Morgan. Not the banking industry in general. Bank of America.

Referring to it as Bank of America stadium shows hypocracy since Obama has spent plenty of time painting the bank as whats wrong with corporate America and greed; however, its a perfect place for him to accept the Dem nomination.

Dems will refer to it as the Belk Bowl facility or even the former Meineke Bowl facility but not BofA stadium. Never.

Well, billionaire bank of America heir CD Spangler did throw GW Bush a fundraiser at his house. Why did a prominent democrat help a GOP candidate? The dirty secret the national press will not tell is about the democrats in finance in Charlotte, NC.

House minority leader Nancy Pelosi says Democratic members should stay home and campaign in their districts rather than go to the party’s national convention in North Carolina.

“I’m not encouraging anyone to go to the convention, having nothing to do with anything except I think they should stay home, campaign in their districts, use their financial and political resources to help them win their election,” Pelosi said in an exclusive interview for POLITICO Live’s “On Congress,” a new weekly show to be streamed live on POLITICO’s website and broadcast on NewsChannel 8 on Wednesdays.

Guess what? This is exactly what big companies are paying me for. They need to know what their average customer needs and wants. So large companies pay $1,000,000's of dollars each month to the average person. In return, the average person, myself included, fills out surveys and gives them their opinion.

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The Observer's editorial board cares deeply about Charlotte and the Carolinas, and has a problem with public officials who have forgotten that they report to citizens. Editorial page editor Taylor Batten and associate editors Peter St. Onge and Eric Frazier tackle politics and public policy issues locally, across the state and nation. Kevin Siers tackles those issues too in cartoons. Read their columns and biographical information on the CharlotteObserver.com Opinion page.